System and method for social play

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a novel system and method for social play. The novel system and method includes a non-transitory machine readable storage medium containing instructions to cause a machine to send a request to a plurality of subscribers who fit a first profile to play a physical sport at a first venue and during a first time period. The first profile comprises at least one criteria and is partially set by a sender of the request and in part configured by default settings.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present invention relates to a novel system and method to employsocial play.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have beenused, wherever possible, to designate identical elements that are commonto the figures. The drawings are not to scale and the relativedimensions of various elements in the drawings are depictedschematically and not necessarily to scale. The techniques of thepresent invention may readily be understood by considering the followingdetailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a screenshot of a window within a software application forusers to schedule practices.

FIG. 2 is a screenshot of a window within the software application forusers to schedule line-ups for matches.

FIG. 3 is a screenshot of a window within the software application forusers to schedule their availability for types of matches.

FIG. 4 is a screenshot of a window within the software application forusers to view their wins and losses record during a season of play.

FIG. 5 is a screenshot of a window within a software application forusers to view scheduled matches along with a record of wins and lossesfor a season.

FIG. 6 is a screenshot of a window within the software application forusers to select food options for food assignments.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method of scheduling matches consistent withthe present invention.

FIG. 8 is another flowchart of a method of scheduling matches consistentwith the present invention.

FIG. 9 is yet another flowchart of a method of scheduling matchesconsistent with the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of a system for reserving venues for aplurality of subscribers within a network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before the present invention is described in detail, it is to beunderstood that, unless otherwise indicated, this disclosure is notlimited to specific procedures or articles, whether described or not.

It is further to be understood that the terminology used herein is forthe purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is notintended to limit the scope of the present invention.

It must be noted that as used herein and in the claims, the singularforms “a,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearlydictates otherwise.

Where a range of values is provided, it is understood that eachintervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unlessthe context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lowerlimit of that range, and any other stated or intervening value in thatstated range, is encompassed within the disclosure. The upper and lowerlimits of these smaller ranges may independently be included in thesmaller ranges, and are also encompassed within the disclosure, subjectto any specifically excluded limit in the stated range. Where the statedrange includes one or both of the limits, ranges excluding either orboth of those included limits are also included in the disclosure. Theterm “about” generally refers to ±10% of a stated value.

The present invention relates to a novel system and method for socialplay. The novel system and method includes a non-transitory machinereadable storage medium containing instructions to cause a machine tosend a request to a plurality of subscribers who fit a first profile toplay a physical sport at a first venue and during a first time period.The first profile comprises at least one criteria and is partially setby a sender of the request and in part configured by default settings.

It should be understood that although some embodiments described hereinare related to tennis matches, the present invention is not limitedthereto. As such, the present invention may be amenable to any sports ornon-sports competition. For example, the present invention may beadapted to any team sport such as, but not limited to, football,baseball, basketball, lacrosse, volleyball, water polo, etc. Likewise,the present invention may be further adapted to any non-sport such aschess, debate, etc.

Moreover, the present invention provides a manner for individuals, suchas owners, team captains, etc., to set up team profiles such thatmatches, practices, and event assignments can be scheduledelectronically. Leagues can therefore be created such that teams andplayers can schedule matches as well as update and view their recordsfor any given season. In some implementations, the system may be feddata from other third-party sources such as international leagueorganizations.

A team captain can register a team. For example, a team captain canregister a team within a tennis league. Advantageously, once a team isregistered, a software application consistent with the present invention(as described herein) can be used to organize practices, matches, and tocommunicate with teammates or players on other teams registered withinthe league.

Upon registering, the software application may request any of aplurality of information. For example, the team captain may be requestedto select or submit a team name, choose a league, indicate the gender ofteam members, select a rating, select a format, and enter the teamroster.

Moreover, a team captain may select a team co-captain. In one or moreembodiments of the present invention, the team co-captain may have thesame access of that of the team captain. However, the team captain mayhave special administrative privileges to restrict the permissionsettings of the team co-captain.

For some sporting events, it is customary for teams to be responsiblefor ancillary activities. For instance, in tennis, it is often customaryin non-professional leagues for the home team to provide refreshmentsfor the visiting team. As such, the software application describedherein may be adaptable to allow users (e.g., team captains) the abilityto setup food assignments.

In addition, the software application can be used to invite team membersto join and set up profiles. Furthermore, the team members may be askedto select or solicit ideas for the team name, preferred practice times,preferred match times, and preferred food, etc.

Upon signing up, team members can create a profile that includes theirpersonal information along with other pertinent information that may beneeded by the team captain to schedule matches, etc. A user's profilemay include the user's full name, email address, contact phone number,gender, rating, notification preferences, availability, and records.

FIG. 1 is a screenshot of a window 100 within an application for usersto schedule practices. As shown, window 100 allows a team captain (e.g.,or co-captain) to select a team (e.g., using scroll bar 101). However,it should be understood by one having ordinary skill in the art that thepresent invention is not limited to this implementation. In someembodiments, a team captain can enter the team name in a designatedfield.

Window 100 also includes a field 102 for the team captain to enter apractice description or other notes which are distributed to teammembers. Most importantly, the window 100 includes fields 103, 104 forentering practice dates and times. An indication for the frequency ofpractices is also configurable as shown by field 105.

Accordingly, the software application provided by the present inventiongives the user (e.g., captain) the ability to schedule and disseminatenotices of practices to team members and other team personnel in anefficient manner. The software application may have the capability tomake a schedule based upon the priorities of each team. For example, thesoftware application receives the priorities of each team (e.g., Week1—priority 1: Monday; priority 2: Thursday; priority 3: Saturday) foreach week of play within a tournament or season. Notably, the softwareapplications can propose several schedules which balance the prioritiesof each team.

FIG. 2 is a screenshot 200 of a window within an application for usersto schedule line-ups for matches. As shown in the figure, a user canselect the names of players for each match type. For example, the teamcaptain can select two players by their identifier (e.g., name and/oremail address) for a singles tennis match. Alternatively, the teamcaptain can select players for a doubles tennis match.

FIG. 3 is a screenshot 300 of a window within an application for usersto schedule their availability for types of matches. Advantageously, auser administrator can access the availability for matches (by matchtype) for each player on the team. For instance, Player1_1 Smith isshown to be available for singles and doubles tennis matches.

In one or more embodiments, each entry of the team members listed mayinclude a hyperlink to access the team member's contact information(e.g., phone number, email address, physical address, social mediaprofile, etc.). When not enough players are available for a futurematch, an error or warning message may be automatically generated.

FIG. 4 is a screenshot 400 of a window within an application for usersto view their record during a season of play. The screenshot 400 listsplayers of a tennis team along with the line-ups and record. Forexample, screenshot 400 shows line-ups for two singles matches (i.e., S1and S2), and three doubles matches (i.e., D1, D2, and D3). For instance,for the first doubles match (i.e., D1), both player1_5@tennisfolder.comand player1_7@tennisfolder.com have a “1” in the wins column for matchscores of 6-2, 5-7, and 1-0. Contrariwise, for the third doubles match(i.e., D3), both player1_4@tennisfolder.com andplayer1_8@tennisfolder.com have a “1” in the loss column for matchscores of 6-4 and 6-2.

FIG. 5 is a screenshot 500 of a window within an application for usersto view scheduled matches along with a record of wins and losses for aseason. In particular, a user can view a list of scheduled tennismatches along with a team's wins and loss record. Additionally,screenshot 500 shows team members to indicate their availability for amatch. For example, the matches scheduled on Mar. 22, 2016 at 18:00,eight team members are available for an away game against the Yuba CityYonkers. Alternatively, no team member has indicated their availabilityfor a home game against the London Losers.

FIG. 6 is a screenshot 600 of a window within an application for usersto select food options for food assignments. Food assignment duties maybe assigned in a round-robin fashion or may be assigned to one teammember. Screenshot 600 indicates a team rating (e.g. USTA rating of3.5). In one or more implementations, a team rating may be imported froma third-party software application. In yet other implementations, a teamcaptain or other authorized team member can import the team's ratinginto the system. In addition, the gender of the team or team member maybe imported.

Most notably, a user may select any of available food options. Inparticular, screenshot 600 displays default food options 601 which maybe modified if desired. For example, the available food options arebeer, eggs, dessert, appetizer(s), white wine, any of various maindishes, water/soda, or red wine. In some implementations, a team canview or may receive a message of the food that will be brought to amatch.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart 700 of a method of scheduling matches consistentwith the present invention. In some implementations, the methoddescribed herein may be directed towards league play. It should beunderstood by those having ordinary skill in the art that the actionsdescribed in flowchart 700 may not be executed in any particular order.

Flowchart 700 begins with block 701—generate a line-up for a match. Itshould be understood that the method disclosed herein is not limited totennis matches but may be applicable for any competition, particularlysports contests.

Block 702—generate a food assignment for the match. As described withregards to FIG. 6, a user (e.g., any team members) may choose from anyavailable food option. Advantageously, the system described hereinprovides an efficient manner to handle logistics associated with thematch.

Flowchart 700 proceeds to block 703—generate a practice schedule foreach sports team. A team captain, co-captain, or other authorizedpersonnel may generate a practice schedule based on team member'savailability. Once a practice schedule is created (e.g., for the nextweek or entire season), the schedule may be published to all that areaffiliated with the team (e.g., team members).

In some embodiments, when not enough players have indicated thereavailability for a practice, the system may send a request (e.g., via asocial play option) for a tennis player in the area near the practicefacility (e.g., configurable) to fill in to avoid cancelling thepractice session. As such, the system may allow users to be contacted tofill in for practices if they have indicated such interest in theirprofile. Moreover, a team captain may indicate whether to allow tennisplayers from the public to join their team for practices.

In one or more embodiments, the method may also include assigning avenue (e.g., tennis court) for the scheduled practice (or match).Options for the venue may be automatically generated or may be selectedmanually. In some embodiments, the system may allow systemadministrators and/or select subscribers to upload new venue profilessuch that the system has the ability to expand in utility.

Next, according to some implementations, flowchart 700 proceeds togenerate a series of line-ups for a season of play (block 704). Theseries of line-ups may be generated by receiving the match availabilityfrom the team members. Once the series of line-ups are generated, theline-ups may be published to all that are affiliated with the team.

Lastly, according to block 705, generate a ranking of each sports team.In some embodiments, the ranking of each sports team is generated basedon a record of wins and losses for each sports team. As described above,a team's ranking may be imported from a third-party source or by manualintervention.

FIG. 8 is another flowchart 800 of a method of scheduling matchesconsistent with the present invention. In some implementations, themethod described herein may be directed towards league play. It shouldbe understood by those having ordinary skill in the art that the actionsdescribed in flowchart 800 may not be executed in any particular order.

Flowchart 800 begins with block 801—prompt a user to create a sportsteam profile. The team profile may include team information such as, butnot limited to, a team's name, logo, record of wins and losses, roster,etc. Advantageously, each team within a league may create a team profilesuch that each team within the league may be available. A league, orclub, may direct team captains to create a sports team profile such thateach league has an efficient manner for team supervision and management.

Next, prompt a user to create a player profile for a sports team (block802). In some implementations, a personal identifier is assigned to eachplayer profile. Accordingly, each player can create a profile such thateach team has a player profile for each team member. In someembodiments, any person associated with the team can create a profile toreceive updates regarding practices, matches, etc.

Next, prompt a plurality of users for an availability for practices andmatches (block 803). Advantageously, once the availability for practicesand matches are received from a critical mass of team members, the teamcaptain, co-captain, or other authorized personnel may generate practiceschedules and matches.

Next, generate a practice schedule according to block 804. As describedabove, the practice schedule may be based on player availability.

Block 805—generate line-ups for matches. The strengths of each teammember may be displayed on each team's profile may be used as a basisfor generating line-ups. For instance, if there are players on the teamwhich have good chemistry, a team captain may factor this in whencreating line-ups.

Next, publish line-ups for practices (806) and matches (807). Publishingmay be accomplished via email, text message, in-app messaging, or anyother suitable means known in the art.

In addition, a court may be assigned for each scheduled match accordingto some embodiments. The assigned courts may be published according to apre-determined frequency.

FIG. 9 is yet another flowchart 900 of a method of scheduling matchesconsistent with the present invention. In some implementations, themethod described herein may be directed towards social play. Flowchart900 begins with block 901—prompt an application user to create anindividual profile. The individual profile may include the user's name,player preferences, gender, age, and resident location. For example, theindividual profile may include the user's records of wins and losses.

Block 902—prompt the user for an availability of practices and matches.Once the user sets their availability, the system may automaticallygenerate a series of line-ups for the user or provide options for a userto select line-ups for practices and matches. As such, an individual canset up practices and matches with other individuals according to gender,resident location, rating, ranking, etc. Therefore, application userswithout associates or friends that share the same interest can findother available individuals for sports play. Most importantly,application users can choose to play with individuals of a particulargender, rating, ranking, etc.

Block 903—generate a series of line-ups for the application user. Insome embodiments, the series of line-ups (block 904) are published viaemail, text, in-app messaging, etc.

In some implementations, application users involved in league play mayselect an option to engage in social play as well. For example, line-upsmay be generated based on an application user's gender, residentlocation, rating, ranking, etc. which may be based in part on theapplication user's record of wins and losses. Therefore, after a seasonof play, individual application users have the capability to effectivelyfind other individuals to practice with or compete against in anefficient manner.

For instance, if an application user is planning to vacationout-of-state, the application user can use the system to set up practicesessions or recreational matches with other individuals at or near thevacation area. In addition, the application users can set up practicesand matches during league play.

A court may be assigned for each scheduled match. The assigned courtsmay be published according to a pre-determined frequency.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of a system 1000 of networked monitoringdevices 1010-1014 for reserving venues for a plurality of subscriberswithin a network 1006. The networked monitoring devices 1010-1014 mayinclude hardware devices such as, but not limited to, a motion detector,sound detector, light detector, pressure detector, or the like. Forexample, an exemplary networked monitoring device is an electronic linejudge used to determine the location of a tennis ball struck on thecourt during a tennis match.

The networked monitoring devices 1010-1014 may respond to commands andin response thereto transmit data as illustrated by exemplarycommunication paths 1015, 1016. In some implementations, the networkedmonitoring devices 1010-1014 can be communicatively coupled to a devicehub 1009 that receives commands via bi-directional data line 1005 (whichmay be routed to any or all of the networked monitored devices1010-1014) which can in turn transmit data (via bi-directional data line1005). The transmitted data may be routed to any or all of the networkedmonitored devices 1010-1014.

The transmitted data may be retrieved by one or more computing devices(e.g., via bi-directional data line 1004) such as a server 1001 whichmay be relayed to one or more clients 1003 a-1003 c (which may becommunicatively coupled to a hub 1002). It should be understood by onehaving ordinary in the art that server 1001 is not limited to a hardwareimplementation. For example, server 1001 can be implemented within acloud computing platform. Moreover, hub 1002 may not be limited to ahardware implementation and can therefore be implemented throughsoftware.

Clients 1003 a-1003 c may be any computing device which can access theInternet. As such, clients 1003 a-1003 c may be a smartphone device,desktop, laptop, 2:1, tablet, or the like. Notably, clients 1003 a-1003c may be operated by users (e.g., subscribers) to access a scheduler1017 (e.g., on server 1001) to reserve a venue for a particular timeslot. In some embodiments, clients 1003 a-1003 c may be equipped with asoftware application that enables a user to reserve time slots forvenues and receive notifications that a time slot is available forreservation.

Venues may be reserved to play any of various activities includingphysical and non-physical activities. For instance, a tennis court,basketball court, gym, soccer field, or the like may be reserved forplay. In addition, other venues may be reserved for physical activitiesin which two or more individuals are needed to participate.

The present invention may employ a system such that a user can request aplurality of subscribers who fit a profile to participate in an activityat a first venue during a first time period. Subscribers may include anyuser which has downloaded or has access to a software application whichfacilitates implementations of the present invention. However, thepresent invention is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, asubscriber is any user which has access to a computing device that canbe used to determine the user's distance from other subscribers andvenues. The profile may be selected by a user subscriber seeking toreserve a venue or may be automatically retrieved based on defaultsettings. In some implementations, the profile comprises at least onecriteria that is partially set by a user and in part configured based ondefault settings. In some embodiments, the criteria may comprisesettings based upon a user profile associated with the requesting user.

The default settings may comprise settings for a maximum distance asubscriber can be located from the first venue to receive anotification. In other embodiments, the default settings comprise amaximum distance a subscriber can be located from the initiator of therequest to receive a notification. According to some embodiments of thepresent invention, the initiator may be an individual subscriber, teamcaptain or club manager which have access to the system's softwareapplication. Alternatively, the initiator may be a software program thatinitiates requests based upon pre-configured settings.

In some embodiments, a user can dictate a specific location, area, orregion where the request can be sent. In other words, the initiator'spresent location does not limit the area where the request is sent asthe initiator or may be at another location at a later time, etc. Thesecapabilities and more may be accomplished by a software applicationpresent on a computing device (e.g., a smartphone). Furthermore, a usermay also sync said software application with the user's calendar suchthat a “social play” request is dispatched during available times in theuser's schedule and according to acceptable times configured in asubscriber user's settings.

For example, based on the location of the venue, only subscribers withina pre-determined distance can receive the reservation requestnotifications. In other implementations, only subscribers within apre-determined distance from the initiating subscriber can receivereservation request notifications.

In some implementations, the user which initiated the request may firstreceive an automatic notification to play the physical sport at a venueduring an unreserved time slot. In some embodiments, the request(s) areautomatically sent to available subscriber recipients which meet aparticular profile after the sender completes a reservation for thevenue.

When a subscriber recipient of the dispatched request indicates thatthey would like to participate in the activity (e.g., via a function ona software application), the initiator (e.g., mobile subscriber) candetermine whether the subscriber recipient is a suitable player option.In the event that a particular subscriber recipient is selected toparticipate, an acknowledgment notification may be sent to thesubscriber recipient in return. Moreover, in the event that moresubscriber recipients indicate their interest to participate in theactivity than requested, the subscriber recipients may be chosen toparticipate in the order in which said subscriber recipients indicatetheir interest.

In yet another implementation, the initiator of the request receives alist of the subscribers who indicated their interest to participate inan activity and the initiator can in turn choose from the list thosesubscribers whom the initiator desires to participate with in theactivity.

In some implementations, each subscriber may have a “favorites” list ofsubscribers they wish to play with. Thus, a subscriber's favorites listmay be used to select amongst available subscribers. Furthermore,administrative settings may be configured such that subscribers can onlychoose to play with other subscribers that are within a set “X”degree(s) of separation. “Degrees of separation” includes the idea thatany person can be connected to any other person through a chain of knownpersons that has “X−1” intermediaries according to some embodiments ofthe present invention.

In one or more implementations, the software application can allow usersto identify persons within their network (e.g., family, friends,classmates, associates, etc.) such that requests for play will only besent to subscribers that are within a pre-configured number of degreesof separation. For example, a user can configure their settings withinthe software application such that requests are only sent to subscribersthat are within two degrees of separation (e.g., user's friends'friends) or alternatively expand the amount of available players byincreasing the degrees of separation (e.g., 4). It should be understoodby one having ordinary skill in the art that the system may also beconfigured such that subscribers can also configure their settings suchthat they only receive activity participation requests according to apre-configured number of degrees of separation (e.g., 2). As such, thepresent invention includes the capability for users and subscriberrecipients to indicate their ability to participate in activities withpersons according to their personal comfort levels.

For example, subscriber settings may be set such that they can engagewith those that are within three degrees of separation from their knowncontacts (e.g., family, friends, associates). However, one havingordinary skill in the art would appreciate that the present disclosureis not limited to any number of degrees of separation from a user'sknown contacts list. Moreover, subscribers may also have an “excludes”list. The “excludes” list may include a list of individuals that asubscriber has elected not to participate with in any activity.

In addition, the present invention may be employed such that asubscriber can request groups rather than single individual subscribers.As such, subscribers can be set up as groups such that a selected memberof the group can respond on behalf of the entire group to indicate thegroup's participation. Yet, in other embodiments, the application may beconfigured such that each member of the group needs to respond.

Notably, the present invention may employ a system such that in responseto receiving a notification from the networked monitoring devicesstationed within a venue that motion is not detected for a first timeduration during a first time period, a request is sent to a plurality ofsubscribers who fit a profile to participate in an activity at the firstvenue during the first time period.

For example, one or more networked monitoring devices may be stationedat a tennis court to detect whether tennis players are presently playingon the tennis court. If the networked monitoring device(s) does notdetect activity within the first twenty minutes of a reserved time slot,they may send notification(s) to a scheduler that tennis play wasundetected and that the venue is therefore available for others toreserve. In some implementations, a scheduler 1017 is hosted on one ormore computer servers 1001 on the network 1006 and is thereforeaccessible to a plurality of subscribers.

Any of the networked monitoring devices may be classified as a primary,secondary, or backup networked monitoring device. A priority scheme maybe employed to gauge reliability of whether or not a venue is presentlybeing utilized. As such, the present invention may employ a priorityscheme when determining whether a venue is currently occupied.

A system consistent with the present invention may be configured suchthat an administrator may have the capability to “block off” times on ascheduler (e.g., during non-business hours) such that reservations canonly be made during certain time periods (e.g., during regular businesshours). In addition, at any given time, an administrator may manuallyselect or deselect any networked monitoring device to send notificationsbased on that device's detections. For example, if a motion detector isthe only networked monitoring device that is operable, an administratormay choose to have notifications transmitted about activity at a venuefrom that specific networked monitoring device. An administrator mayalso have the capability to manually check whether activity is detectedat any venue by sending direct commands to the network monitoringdevice(s) at any desired time.

In some embodiments, the user which initiated the request and whosecohort failed to utilize the event may be charged a cancellation fee.The cancellation fee may be debited using payment card (e.g., creditcard) information electronically stored in the user's profile. In someimplementations, only the initiating subscriber is charged acancellation fee. In other implementations, all subscribers in thecohort that are selected to participate in the activity are each chargeda cancellation fee.

A subscriber may be charged once the subscriber initiates a “socialplay” function. In other implementations, a subscriber is charged onlywhen enough subscribers indicate that they are available to participatein the activity. However, it should be understood by one having ordinaryskill in the art that a subscriber may be billed according to variousbilling schemes.

Moreover, the system may automatically send a request to a plurality ofsubscribers who fit the profile to participate in the activity inresponse to receiving another notification from the networked monitoringdevices that motion is not detected for a second time duration that islater in time than the first time duration. For example, if a subscriberwho reserved a venue actually shows up with his cohort to play on thetennis court but they leave early, a networked monitoring device maysend a notification of such so that the venue may be accessible toothers for the remaining time of the reservation.

For instance, if the players leave the venue before the expiration ofthe reservation for a threshold time period (e.g., 20 minutes), anotification of such may be sent to a scheduler 1017. In addition, anotification may be sent subject to the amount of time that is left inthe reservation. For example, if there is at least one hour left on thereservation and no activity has been detected within the last 20minutes, a networked monitoring device may send a notification that thevenue is open for a new reservation for the balance of time left on thereservation (or greater if more time permits). It should be understoodby those having ordinary skill in the art that the system may employ thesame or different time thresholds for which the network monitoringdevices can dispatch notifications.

The present invention also provides a means of automatically dispatchingreservation requests to a plurality of subscribers. The system mayinclude providing a scheduler for reservations. When a time slot isunreserved on the scheduler, an application may be configured to send arequest to a plurality of subscribers who fit a profile to engage in anactivity at a venue during a specific time slot. Accordingly, thescheduler 1017 may be updated when a subscriber that received therequests reserves the unreserved time slot. In some embodiments, thereservation request is sent automatically when the time slot isunreserved for a default time period.

In some embodiments, the scheduler 1017 may have access to weather data1018. Weather data 1018 may be used to update reservations. For example,if weather data 1018 indicates that a venue (e.g., open tennis court)will be subject to poor weather conditions, a notification may promptthe subscriber which reserved the venue to change venues. Furthermore,the system may recommend other venues that are unreserved and are notsubject to poor weather conditions. If no other venues are available atthe reserved time, the system may recommend that the subscriber reservesthe venue on another date and time.

Advantageously, a smartphone device may be equipped with a softwareapplication such that a mobile user can employ “social play” at anydesired time. Employing social play may include sending a notificationto a plurality of users, based on a desired profile set by the mobileuser (or by a default setting), to participate in an activity at a venueat a desired time. The user may select the venue before the request isdispatched or the software application may designate a venue based upondefault settings (e.g., availability, location to user, weatherconditions, type of activity, etcetera).

The subscriber recipients that received the request may elect toparticipate in the activity by indicating such with the softwareapplication on their smartphone device. If a subscriber recipient electsto participate in the activity, the system may determine among othersubscriber recipients, whom have elected to participate, which of thesewill be selected. The system may be configured to notify the subscriberrecipients to whether they were selected to participate or not. In someimplementations, some subscriber recipients may be placed on a waitinglist and may be selected in the event that any selected subscriber maychoose not to participate in the activity.

In addition, venues (e.g., club houses) may use an electronic schedulerto reserve their venue with club members. For unreserved time slots,administrators may manually dispatch a request to club members that thevenue is open for reservations. In addition, administrators may open thevenue up to the public via a software application for reservations. Theelectronic scheduler may also be configured to automatically sendrequests to club owners or the public whenever the venue(s) areunreserved or become available.

Systems and methods describing the present invention have beendescribed. It will be understood that the descriptions of someembodiments of the present invention do not limit the variousalternative, modified, and equivalent embodiments which may be includedwithin the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by theappended claims. Furthermore, in the detailed description above,numerous specific details are set forth to provide an understanding ofvarious embodiments of the present invention. However, some embodimentsof the present invention may be practiced without these specificdetails. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, andcomponents have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarilyobscure aspects of the present embodiments.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory machine-readable storage mediumcontaining instructions that, when executed causes a scheduler to sendrequests to a plurality of subscribers who fit a first profile to play aphysical sport at a first venue during a first time period; wherein therequests sent to the plurality of subscribers are initiated by a mobilesubscriber user and wherein each of the plurality of subscribers arewithin three degrees of separation of known contacts of the mobilesubscriber that initiated the request; wherein the first profilecomprises at least one criteria and is partially set by a sender of therequest and in part configured by default settings.
 2. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein thedefault settings comprise a maximum distance a subscriber recipient canbe located from the first venue to receive a notification.
 3. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein thedefault settings comprise a maximum distance a subscriber recipient canbe located from the initiator of the request to receive a notification.4. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1,wherein the at least one criteria further comprises settings associatedwith a user profile associated with the sender of the request.
 5. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein thephysical sport is at least one of tennis, basketball, soccer, orvolleyball.
 6. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium ofclaim 1 further containing instructions, that when executed, causes thescheduler to receive a notification from each subscriber recipient thatis available to play the physical sport at the first venue during thefirst time period.
 7. The non-transitory machine-readable storage mediumof claim 1 further containing instructions, that when executed, causesthe machine to send an acknowledgment notification to each subscriberrecipient that has been selected to play the physical sport at the firstvenue during the first time period.
 8. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 1 further containinginstructions, that when executed, causes the machine to automaticallysend the request to the plurality of subscribers after the sender sets areservation for the venue.
 9. A non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium containing instructions, that when executed causes a schedulerto: in response to receiving a first notification from at least onenetworked hardware device stationed within a first venue that activityhas not been detected for a first time duration during a first timeperiod, causes a machine to send requests to a plurality of subscriberswho fit a first profile to play a physical sport at the first venueduring the first time period; wherein the requests sent to the pluralityof subscribers are initiated by a mobile subscriber user and whereineach of the plurality of subscribers are within three degrees ofseparation of known contacts of the mobile subscriber that initiated therequest; wherein the first profile comprises at least one criteria andis partially set by a sender of the request and in part configured bydefault settings.
 10. The non-transitory machine-readable storage mediumof claim 9 further containing instructions, that when executed, causes amachine to send a second notification to the scheduler when a subscriberrecipient is granted a reservation of the first venue during the firsttime period.
 11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium ofclaim 10 further containing instructions, that when executed, cause amachine to send a request to the plurality of subscribers who fit thefirst profile to play the physical sport at the first venue in responseto receiving a third notification from the at least one networkedhardware device that activity is not detected, at a second time durationthat is later in time than the first time duration.
 12. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11 furthercontaining instructions, when executed, cause a machine to charge apayment account associated with a subscriber which failed to reach thevenue during the reserved time.
 13. The non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium of claim 9, wherein the first time duration and thesecond time duration are different.
 14. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the firstnotification is received from a motion detector.
 15. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the firstnotification is received from a sound detector.
 16. A non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium containing instructions that, whenexecuted causes a scheduler to be available for electronic reservations;and when a time slot is unreserved on the scheduler, causes a machine tosend requests to a plurality of subscribers who fit a first profile toplay a physical sport at a first venue during a first time period;wherein the requests sent to the plurality of subscribers are initiatedby a mobile subscriber user and wherein each of the plurality ofsubscribers are within three degrees of separation of known contacts ofthe mobile subscriber that initiated the request; wherein the firstprofile comprises at least one criteria and is partially set by a senderof the requests and in part configured by default settings; wherein thedefault settings comprise a maximum distance a subscriber recipient canbe located from the first venue to receive a first notification.
 17. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 furthercontaining instructions that, when executed, cause a scheduler to beupdated when a subscriber reserves the unreserved time slot.
 18. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein therequests are sent automatically when the time slot is unreserved for adefault time period.
 19. The non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium of claim 16 further containing instructions that, when executed,causes the scheduler to change a reservation upon receiving data relatedto a weather event near the first venue.
 20. The non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the change to thereservation is from the first venue to a second venue.
 21. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16 furthercontaining instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to send arequest to a plurality of subscribers who fit a first profile to play aphysical sport at the first venue during the first time period inresponse to receiving a second notification from at least one hardwaredevice stationed within a first venue that motion is not detected for afirst time duration during the first time period, wherein the firstprofile comprises at least one criteria and is partially set by a senderand in part configured by default settings associated with a sendingdevice.
 22. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim16 further containing instructions that, when executed, causes thescheduler to retrieve weather data.